Can't Wake Up
by Apples of Idunn
Summary: Raven Blackmarsh is the most loyal resident of Halloweentown, and Jack Skellington's personal assistant. When a human shows up -possibly forever- Raven is faced with the seemingly impossible task of protecting her. A mysterious enemy is out to get Raven, and very slowly, she discovers a power that she must learn to control, or risk destroying the seven holiday worlds.
1. Chapter 1

By crazyTARDIS825

**I don't own any of the original Nightmare before Christmas themes or characters, which goes to Tim Burton! :D**

One: Arrival

"Make a note of it, Raven," Jack instructed, walking through town square with his hands cupped behind his back, "that the fountain will be cleaned in preparation for the annual Halloween bash this week." I scribbled the note down on my notepad, and rushed back to Jack's side.

"I fancy a walk in the dead forest, care to join me?" the question surprised me. Slowly, I looked up at the Pumpkin King, standing a good foot above my head -I was very tall and skinny, much like him, but with flesh- before giving my hushed answer.

"That would be fine, I would be glad to accompany you, sir." Jack smiled in his skeleton way at my shyness.

We passed the mayor on the way to the graveyard, and Jack leaned over to talk to the man.

"We are going to into the dead forest for a yarn, make sure things don't get too out of hand?" the mayor nodded quickly, his face on the happy side.

Jack and I silently made our way into the graveyard, the moon shining full and bright, casting an eerie glow over the pumpkin patch.

"I remember the first time I went into this forest," Jack said in a far-off tone of voice, a touch of longing coloring it.

"As do I, sir. We got into quite a bit of trouble with Mr. Clause that year, didn't we?"

I remembered it fondly. A few years had passed, but the images were still fresh in my mind. It had only been a few months after I arrived in Halloweentown, and Jack had been kind to me; saved my life, in reality. I pledged loyalty to him and became his most trusted advisor. I struggled to follow Jack's long strides, and I couldn't help but wish he would slow down.

As if he had read my mind, Jack stopped and waited for me to catch up, smiling in amusement.

"I'm sorry for my slowness, sir." Jack looked at me fondly.

"You don't need to call me sir anymore Raven, you've repaid your debt." I nodded, slightly embarrassed.

"Thank-you… Jack," I replied.

We were well into the forest now, Halloweentown far behind us. It was only when we heard whimpering that we stopped.

"Did you hear that?" he asked me. Even with my trained and acute senses, I had to struggle to hear the sounds. They were not the sounds anything in this forest made, and since I spent almost all my free time in it, I knew. But the sound seemed familiar, and I turned my head to where it seemed to be coming from.

Taking a few cautious steps forward, I reached out to brush some bushes aside. My eyes opened unnaturally wide at the sight. A small girl was lying in the bushes, shivering and whimpering. Her hair was a fiery red, her skin pale as ash, and her clothes were torn and ripped. She looked up at the sound of the parting bushes.

"W-who are you?" she asked in a shaky voice. She was small, and I guessed she was about sixteen, and scared.

"I'm Raven, I want to help." Her eyes filled with tears.

"I was so s-scared, and when it came after me I r-ran and ran, but I c-couldn't find anything except for this dead f-forest. Finally, I h-hid here and it ran past. I thought it could s-smell my fear, but it couldn't. Thank g-g-god." Jack came up behind me and looked the girl over. The little girl's eyes bulged and then rolled into her head. She went limp and her breathing was slow and casual.


	2. Chapter 2

Two: Ashley Greene

**i only own the characters of Ashley and Raven, all the rest belongs to Tim Burton.**

"Come on," Jack said, "we have to get her back to town." He picked the human up with his unnatural strength. He took off running in the direction of town. I struggled to keep up, and was soon panting. Not wanting to get lost, I took a deep breath and made my legs pump harder.

Finally, we arrived back in Halloweentown and Jack was trying to get through a thick throng of people. I was shouting "get out of the way!" and the people separated. Jack brought the unconscious girl to Doctor Finkelstein's tower.

"Doctor!" Jack shouted into the echoing building. Doctor Finkelstein rolled into the entry hallway from his laboratory. He took one look at the unconscious human in Jack's arms before he set a determined look on his face and said solemnly, "come with me."

Jack followed the doctor, but his daughter, Sally stopped me before I could as well.

"Raven!" Sally shouted, catching my arm, "What happened? Is Jack alright?"

"Jack's fine Sally, but we found a human in the forest, Jack scared her half to death, and she's suffering massive fatigue, dehydration and hunger, not to mention paranoia. We haven't gotten a single helpful word out of her."

Sally looked relieved. She followed me as I entered the laboratory. I watched Doctor Finkelstein work, looking over the girl's body, taking a pulse, when finally, he gathered a bucket of icy water from his hunchbacked assistant. He looked in it before he dumped it on the girl's face.

I was surprised at the doctor's methods, but the girl lurched into an upright position, looking around wildly. Jack prodded me in the back as they shrunk into the shadows. I stepped over to where the girl was sitting, already knowing why they had chosen me to speak to the girl.

"What?" she asked incredulously, "where am I? What happened? I remember this evil thing and… and a skeleton!" I took her hand comfortingly. Being sure to cover my sharpened teeth, I began to speak soothingly to her.

"It's okay, no one is going to hurt you. My name is Raven Blackmarsh. I'm here to help you figure out what happened. Now, about the skeleton… well, he was there and won't lie to you, he is probably the scariest person you will ever meet but," I said, cutting the girl off with a finger, "he's promised not to hurt you. His name is Jack and he is one of my closest friends. You are in Halloweentown, and you might need to stay here a while."

"What… w-what happened?"

"I was hoping you'd be able to answer that for me." Jack took a cautious step forward. He took a slow, sweeping bow and despite the fact that the girl looked terrified, she didn't faint again.

"I'm Jack Skellington," he said quietly.

"Ashley Greene," the girl replied, her eyes going around the room.

Sally brought some water and food, which Ashley happily took from the ragdoll. She ate it quickly, which only proved that she had been without food and water for at least a day.

"The girl needs to drink plenty of fresh water, regular meals, and plenty of rest," the doc said.

I helped Ashley up and out into the street.

"Where am I to stay?" Ashley asked Jack.

"I think you can stay in our guest room," he replied. I looked up.

"Raven, see to it that Ashley gets settled in. Sally will help." Jack's wife led us to their huge house, mostly made up of winding staircases, dark, empty rooms and cobwebs.

Sally led us to a large room painted a dull orange and black in the spirit of Halloweentown's favorite holiday: Halloween. Together Sally and I helped Ashley into the large, four posted bed. Sally rushed off to get food and water while I stayed with Ashley.

"Now, Ashley," I began, "tell me everything. Start from the beginning." Ashley took a deep breath, seeming to draw her thoughts together.

"Well, I come from Spokane, and… was wandering in the forest behind my house. It was starting to get dark, so I tried to find my way back but… I had gotten lost. I was stumbling around, trying to find anything, when I suddenly came across this clearing… and the trees each had a different symbol. Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving… I wasn't going to open the doors, deciding to just leave them be but then… the Halloween door opened up and pulled me through. I was falling into a deep black pit of nothingness…"

"The Holiday doors… that's odd. Which one did you come from?" I asked. Ashley looked at me oddly.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Well, which holiday town are you from; Easter town, Christmas town, what?"

"None, I come from Spokane. I'm not a holiday representative or anything." I raised my eyebrows.

"You can continue with your story now," I prompted softy.

"I fell, not far enough to be knocked unconscious, but it was pretty painful."


	3. Chapter 3

Three: This is Halloween

**Again, I do not own the complete and utter awesomeness of TBNBC, and it all goes to he madman with a method: Time Burton. C:**

The next few days passed quickly. Ashley stayed in bed for most of the week, but she was excited to see the Halloween celebration, which took about six months to plan, and I had told her of my first.

On the 31st of Halloween, Halloweentown was busier than ever. Creatures of every shape, size and color rushed around trying to get final preparations done. The mayor had his worry face on, and he was shouting into a megaphone.

"Alright everybody, come on! Everything needs to be perfect!"

Ashley jumped away when most of the creatures came close.

"It's alright Ashley," I soothed her, "despite the nightmarish exterior; the residents of Halloweentown are quite harmless… most of the time." We passed a group of humming vampires in the shade of a large building.

"Good morning, Ms. Blackmarsh," chimed three children's voices from my feet. I looked down to see who was speaking. I was a little irritated, but mostly amused. Standing before me was the trio formally known as Oogie Boogie's help. Lock, Shock and Barrel, the three mischievous youngsters who had recently turned over a new leaf... mostly.

"Hello," Ashley said sweetly. Lock, Shock and Barrel looked at her.

"Hello there," Lock said, giggling to the others, "who are you?"

"I'm Ashley. Who are you?" the three were ecstatic at the chance to perform their ridiculous introduction, and they lined up in order. One by one, they removed their masks as they introduced themselves.

Ashley smiled at the act. They took low, sweeping bows and Shock curtsied. Ashley and I walked off, leaving the youngsters behind us.

"I'd keep my distance from them if I were you," I murmured to Ashley as Lock, Shock and Barrel walked away to do mischief somewhere else.

"Why? They're so cute!" I looked at Ashley skeptically.

"Cute, questionable. But they are mischievous little troublemakers, those ones. Let's just say Jack keeps a close eye socket on them."

I helped Andres, the town's runt werewolf prepare for Jack's entrance, and waited for night to fall.

I stood in the crowd next to Ashley as the residents of Halloweentown began to sing…

Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?

I prepared as the Clown sang his part.

I am the 'who' when they call 'who's there?' I sang at a soft mezzo piano, the people staring up into the sky.

Ashley grinned and shivered as my voice echoed eerily through the town.

I smiled as Ashley and I sang the chorus at the top of our lungs with the others.

Giant bats flew by and everyone gasped, especially Ashley. They swooped and twisted through the air as Ashley, the mummy child, and I all sang our trio.

In this town, we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song. La, la, la, la, la, la…

The bats took one final dive and dropped something into the murky fountain. We continued to 'la' as Jack rose up out of the water, his bat bow-tie extending its wings, Jack smiling his skeleton grin. We cheered and clapped as Jack stepped out of the fountain with his long legs.

"Well done everyone! Happy Halloween!" Jack said to the crowd. The mayor stood on the top of his… cart thing and began announcing the awards. Jack squatted down to look at us and smiled as Ashley paled slightly.

"Would you guys like to go to the Spiral Hill?"


	4. Chapter 4

Four: Encounter

**I do not own TNBC, (Tim Burton is a mad genius) Review please, thank you for taking precious time from you day to read. **** Sorry for the wait, I have things distracting me.**

Ashley and I looked at each other, questioning Jack's reasons.

"Alright," we said in unison. Jack led us to Spiral Hill.

"Beautiful night," I commented, floating next to Jack. Jack only nodded in reply. After a few minutes of silence, a loud howl could be heard.

Jack looked up from the tombstone he had been inspecting -I didn't have the chance to read what it said- and stared in the direction the wretched sound was coming from. Ashley clung to me slightly, her body beginning to tremble. I stroked her head soothingly as anxiety rose in my own throat.

Suddenly, a black shadow swept past us, leaving my face stinging. I conjured a fireball, and jack gave me the order to fire at will. I shot the blasts randomly, and I only hit the thing once.


End file.
